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The battle of Hafrsfjord (872 A.D.) resulted in small kingdoms becoming one larger kingdom, ruled by Harald Fairhair. After the king's death, again there were smaller kingdoms, inside Norway.[9]

Stockfish (or fish that has been freeze-dried, outside in cold weather) has been traded and exported; this happened as early as either the 9th century,[10] 10th century, or 11th century until 1066.[11] Other sources say that the exporting was happening as early as the 12th century; stockfish is one of the country's oldest [type of] things to be sold for export.[11]

The results of the election in 1882, led to parlamentarism becoming part of Norway's political system; the votes of the "swamp men" decided the outcome of the election; they included teachers, artists and craftsmen who were not poor but also did not own land; ownership of land or a contract to use land was necessary to get voting rights; the "swamp men" had bough cheap land which was nearly useless, except for getting a right to vote.[17]

King Haakon VII was already married, before he came to Norway (in 1905). His wife, Princess Maud, became Queen Maud. Their son, Prince Alexander of Denmark, became Crown Prince Olav and followed after his father as King Olav V in 1957. Olav and his wife, Crown Princess Märtha, had three children; Princess Ragnhild, Princess Astrid and Prince Harald (later Crown Prince Harald and in 1991 he followed his father as King Harald V).

King Harald is the first king born in Norway in over 600 years. He has two children; Princess Märtha Louise and Crown Prince Haakon Magnus.

Most people in Norway are ethnic Norwegians. They speak a language that is related to German and English. Swedish and Danish are so close to Norwegian that most Norwegians understand them. Across Norway, many different dialects are spoken. Norwegians disagree on how to make one correct written language. Therefore, there are two standard languages, Bokmål and Nynorsk. Nynorsk is used in writing in most of the western areas and in the central mountains. Bokmål is written by most people in the rest of the country.

A native population of Norway, the Sami people, has its home in the northern parts of the country. Their language is not at all related to Norwegian. In some parishes in the far north, they make up the majority of people. Many Sami now live outside the Sami homeland, mostly in Oslo and other big cities. Earlier, Sami people were forced to speak Norwegian in school. Now Sami is taught as the first language in school for Sami children, and Norwegian is the first foreign language.

Many immigrants have come to Norway in the last 30–40 years. They mostly live in and around Oslo, and in the other big cities. Many immigrants come from nearby countries, like Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland and Russia. There are also many from countries far away, such as Pakistan, Somalia, Iraq and Vietnam.

Traditionally, all Norwegians were Lutherans, a variety of the Protestant faith. Still, more than 80% of Norwegians are Lutherans. Other important faiths include Islam, other Protestant groups and Catholicism.

Among tourists to Norway, more come from Germany than from any other country. There are also many Swedes, Danes, British, Dutch and Italians visiting Norway. The Swedes and Danes often come in winter to go skiing. The others mainly come in summer. Many people visit Norway to see the Northern Lights, also known as the 'Aurora Borealis'.

Norwegian culture can be compared to English culture in the way that it is considered a bad thing to show off, as opposed to the US, where this is more acceptable. This is a big aspect of Norwegian culture, and it is related to the philosophy of egalitarianism. Because of this, people will understate things, for example if a Norwegian says something is good or nice, it can mean that it's really great.

Items from the Viking Age (in Norway), are shown in museums: One item is the Gokstad ship.

The farmers' culture (bondekulturen) was brutal.[21]
Unwanted babies were "placed in the forest" (sette barn på skogen) to die, until the nineteenth century; in the end, the [rural] police authority - consisting of individuals called lensmann(en) - were able to control [and stop] these crimes.[21]

In Norway power is shared among three branches: The justice sector, the government and the parliament (Stortinget). Norway also has a king, Harald V, but he does not have any real power and acts as a symbol and ambassador. This form of government is called a constitutional monarchy. Elections are held every four years, and the winner of the election is the party or coalition of parties that gets the most votes and seats in the parliament. After the elections are done, the winners work together to find out who the prime minister should be, as well as who the other ministers should be.

Here is a short summary of the biggest political parties in Norway, from left to right on the political axis:

Red (Rødt): A revolutionary socialist party which works for equality of income, labour rights, a controlled economy and feminism. Red is the only party on this list that is not in the Norwegian parliament.

Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk venstreparti): The party is not very radical and is concerned with environmental issues as well as education. The party is traditionally regarded as the "teacher's party" because of their focus on learning and school. One might call SV more of a social democratic party than a socialist party, since their socialist views have faded over the years. They were more radical in the 1970s and 80s.

Norwegian Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet): The Labour Party is the biggest party in Norway. They work for a strong economy with many regulations on private businesses, and are traditionally the party for workers, securing labour rights and the welfare state.

Centre Party (Senterpartiet): The Centre Party used to be known as the farmer's party; they no longer use this name, but still they are mostly popular in the countryside and other rural regions, since they work for the environment and protection of Norwegian farmers. For example, raising tariffs, or putting taxes on imports, to make foreign food cost more so that people will buy from Norwegian farmers. This is called protectionism.

Green Party (Miljøpartiet de Grønne): The Green party works for the environment only, and has recently been gaining a lot of popularity for its radical politics. They are mostly a left-side party, but will switch sides if it helps the environment.

Kristelig Folkeparti: The Christian People's Party is at present more active in local than national politics.

Conservative Party (Høgre): The flagship of the right side of politics, it is a conservative party and is the second biggest party in Norway. It works for a free market, liberal rights and equality of opportunity. They are friendly towards private businesses and support economic growth by making taxes smaller, so that more people can start businesses.

The Conservative Party and the Progress Party are currently working together in a coalition government, after getting elected in the 2013 elections. It's also a minority government, so it has to work together with the other parties in the parliament to make change.